Gentrification

Busy day today… After (pre-)school stuff, I had a couple hours of legal meetings, then the gym, then more legal stuff and a little bit of medical… On the way home through Parkdale I saw this sign for “Bohemian Embassy” condos that I found pretty irritating:

It irks me that people are stupid enough to actually fall for ads like “hey, buy this and you'll be cool“ especially on something as big as a house — or media that tells people who wouldn't want tattoos without strong internal influences pushing them toward them that if they get a sleeve they'll be “cool” or part of a “scene” as well. On one hand it's true that what other people do is their problem and I shouldn't care, but gentrification (in either of these markets) affects the entire market (by increasing cost, market demands, oversaturation, lowest-common-denominator marketting, etc.) and almost always negatively influences it for the early adopters.

That said, the area that gentrification bothers me most is racism… I was talking to a friend today who is Indian (as in India) and they can't safely go out right now because of pro-Israel rallies at their school — enough Jewish students want to vent their anger on anyone with brown skin, whether they're Arab or Indian or even have anything to do with the conflict. Seriously, what is gained by a Canadian of Jewish descent attacking a Canadian of Arab descent?

At least they're not chopping anyone's head off here yet, but still. It's ridiculous and offensive behavior.

The reason I mention gentrification is that I think that racism changes, and becomes something very “entitled” and different as populations that were once oppressed are removed from that oppression and even climb to the top of the power structure. So for example, one might feel (and be) justified as a Zionist as an Israeli settler, but the argument becomes less convincing when you're a rich kid in Canada that uses Zionism as an excuse to be a bigot toward any ethnic group of vaguely brownish skin.

I understand racism and bigotry as an ignorant knee-jerk reaction to oppression and abuse (a la some of the silly responses to cartoons of Muhammad and so on). I don't agree with it, and I understand where it comes from — self-defense. Racism and bigotry though in the absence of oppression and abuse however is absolutely inexcuseable.